As the sun slowly started to rise, sending rays of light across Vale and onto the rooftops of Beacon Academy, a certain jade haired teenage girl was already wide awake and preparing for the day to come in her own special way.
"Ninety-seven... ninety-eight... ninety-nine... one hundred." With her palms braced against the floor and her right leg crossed over her other leg with just the tip of her left foot against the roof, Kagami pushed her body up. Her torso and legs remained completely in a straight line as she did so, her long and wavy green hair pulled back into a ponytail that curled around her right shoulder.
"There we go." She let out a sigh of relief, bringing a knee to the ground and waiting a moment before she sat back to relax.
Like every morning for the past few years, since she was too old to enroll in a combat school, Kagami proceed with her usual routine. A hundred sit ups followed by a hundred squats and a hundred push-ups. She had to get stronger somehow, for her mother she had to, and that was the only thing she could think of doing to do such.
"Now then," She stood up, pulling the sleeves down on her hoodie. She stretched her neck a bit as she reached down and picked up her sword, strapping it across her back. Since she had terrible trust issues to start with, her shoes had stayed on all night and were still tied on tight. She reached up, pulling her hair down as she stretched out her chest. "Let's start this show."
Kagami glanced up at the sun, turning around and walking backwards to the door that led her up here. "I'm getting one step closer to seeing you again." She gave a faint smile, giving a two finger salute with her right hand to sky before turning around on her heels and opening the door, heading down the stairs.
Meanwhile, down below in the ballroom, Elise was have a little bit more difficult time waking up. Having grown up on a farm far away from civilization her entire life, the only noises she was use to hearing at night was the sound of nature. Here though, during her first night spent in city limits, she could hear cars honking and sirens going off one after another.
She couldn't sleep with that to save her life.
Which is why at the moment, the young farm girl was groaning as she slowly slid out of her pile of blanket ontop of her. Getting out of it, she grumbled at the cold floor, reaching over and grabbing the top blanket which she covered herself with a curled up. Her eyes slowly opened, blinking as an attempted to get the sleep from her eyes. When that failed, she groaned rather loudly, tossing the blanket off her as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"I hate ALL of you!" She shouted, a few students turning back to look at her before going onto their own business. With another grumbled, Elise opened her eyes and glared at her mountain of blankets. She blinked slowly, staring at them with a dead sleepy look in her dark green eyes.
"I guess... I should clean you up..." She sighed, reaching over and grabbing a large bag. She then proceeded to stuff blanket after blanket into it before it looked like it was about to explode like a volcano.
"All done." She smiled, standing up with the swollen bag over her shoulder as she started to walk off. Her smile only lasted for a bit before she groaned, sleep deprivation hitting her again as she stumbled out of the ballroom and towards a bathroom
As she did so, Cheyenne watched, calmly folding everything she slept on as neat as she possibly could.
"That girl... is far beyond crazy." She muttered to herself so quiet she could barely hear. She glanced down at her stuff, staring at it below her hands before sighing and standing up with it. This was it. This was the day. Her first full day at Beacon.
She inhaled as deeply as she could, holding the breath in for a few seconds before releasing it. She could do this. She had to do this for all the people on Remnant who deserved better than what they had. She had to become a Huntress for them and her parents.
Cheyenne started to walk off, pushing her light brown hair behind her ear before freezing. Out of the corner of her eye, she just barely caught a glimpse of a girl dressed in black and white while holding a book in her hands and a bow tied on the top of her head. There was no possible way she saw her of all people.
She gulped, taking a few more steps before doing a quick double take, her hair flying around her face. Seeing that face only told her that who she was seeing was in fact the same person who saved her years ago.
Blake Belladonna was here at the same exact school as she was. It was such an unbelievable coincidence. Then again, Cheyenne never believed in coincidences. Everything happened for a reason in her book. But to see Blake again, that was far too shocking for even her. So instead of walking over and giving a faint smile or even saying hello, she quickly started to walk away. What was she suppose to do if Blake caught a glimpse of her?
She just silently groaned, burying her face in her stuff as she let out a long sigh. Never mind that right now. She lowered her stuff, taking another deep breath. She needed to prepare for initiation as best as she could.
A few hours later, Kagami blinked slowly as she was launched off a cliff and into the air.
"I... think I need a landing strategy." She mumbled to herself, doing her best to ignore the fact she did infact have to work together with people during this and the rest of her four years here while scratching the back of her head as her hair flew up and behind her like a cape. She gave a faint sigh, seeing the trees come ever so slowly closer and closer to her. Even so, she seemed as calm as ever or rather bored of it all.
"Hmm." She twirled onto her back as she continued to fall, looking up at the sky and several other students who were shot off the cliff. "I guess I should just stab a tree." She shrugged again, turning back to face the ground just as a leaf brushed across her face.
A ways away, Cheyenne was flailing her arms around with wide eyes. "Plan! Plan! Plan!" She squealed out, her arms suddenly holding herself incredibly tight. "I'm going to diiiiiiiie!" She shrieked and shut her eyes as tree branches started to fly by her.
She then let out a faint grunt, hitting a vine and breaking a piece off. She stumbled a bit with it before she caught it on her hands. She opened her eyes, blinking a few times before screaming and shutting her eyes again, gripping the vine extremely tight. A moment later, the plant started to grow rapidly until it covered the ground in an extremely thick layer.
Giving another, much softer grunt, Cheyenne sat up on the vines she hit. "Oh... that actually worked." She smiled, jumping up to her feet as she started to dance around. "I'm alive! Thank Oum for my semblance! And than this vine!" She then quickly stopped, hushing herself as she looked around. Luckily for her, her shouts of joy didn't alarm any Grimm near by.
She let out a sigh of relief, only to jump as the sound of something impacting water shot through the air, scaring off several birds.
In the distance, in a small but extremely deep pond, Elise's head popped out of it and gasped for air.
"Whoa..." Was all the brunet let out with rapid breathing before she started to swim to the edge. There, she jumped to her feet, ringing out her clothes as best as she could before looking up at the sky to which she grinned at. "That was so flipping awesome! I thought Oz was joking when he said we had to land on our own! And then woosh!" She moved her hand through the air. "Right off that cliff and looking death in the face the SPLASH! Right into the water!"
She couldn't help but smile more, twirling around. "Wait," Her eyes locked on the forest. "It's time to go big or go home." She pulled one foot back before sprinting as fast as she could into the unknown boundaries of the Emerald Forest. "And it's also time to find a partner!"
Elise could of very much contiuened on running for a longer period of time, but as she found herself in a cleared off arean, a blur of red, green, and black suddenly shot down in front of her. She skidded to a stop, stumbling before crashing into what, or who had landed on the ground in front of her.
As she pushed herself up, shaking her head slightly, her eyes opened and quickly began to blink as she made eye contact with a pair of bright green eyes with mascara around them.
"You have got to be kidding me." She mumbled to herself.
Several minutes earlier, just as the second to last student was being launched into the air for this round of initiation, Ozpin lifted up his head to see someone running as fast as they could towards the cliff. "Glynda?" He raised an eyebrow, leaning over as said woman lifted her head up.
She blinked a few times before her green eyes went wide, seeing a Huntsman in training being shoved off his launching pad and a pair of boots replacing him. "Christmas!"She snapped, taking one step forward.
"I'm not going back to Intial! I thought about it all night and I am not going back! I'll find my own way!" Kris shot back, crouching down before she was shot off into the air.
Ozpin blinked a few times and kept a blank expression, turning around to watch her fall while taking a sip from his mug. "I don't believe she wishes to return home." He muttered, turning back to face his coworker.
With her jaw clenched and hands balled up in tight fist, Glynda did her best to hold in a growl that so badly wanted to form. She took a deep breath, her nostrils fairing as she stepped towards the edge of the cliff next to Ozpin. Before she could speak though, he calmly held out his hand.
"Let it be, Glynda. If she doesn't want to go back, don't make her. Let her see how much she fairs against the creatures of Grimm in Emerald." He couldn't help but give a faint smile. "I myself would actually like to see how this turns out."
Glynda took another deep breath before sighing and taking out her scroll. "She still must return to my sister's. She must go to school. If not Initial, then where exactly..." She trailed off, sensing a look in Ozpin's eyes that she saw one to many times. She couldn't help but roll her eyes, taking another deep breath.
"If she can make it out alive, then why not?" He glanced at her, smiling.
Flying through the air, Kris was smiling as wide as she possibly could with her arms outstretched and eyes shut. This is what it felt like to fly, what it felt like to be free.
"I'm never going baaaaack!" She cried out, opening her eyes to watched the trees fly by. "I'm going to find my own waaaaay!" She grinned, both her arms reaching up and going to her back. A second later, she pulled out a set of twin curved canes with red and white stripes across them both. Between the curve and the bottom tip there was a silver part with a few red and green buttons on it.
"Here! We! Go!" Her grin only grew as she spun the weapons around by the curved part like a pair of tonfas. As the sky vanished behind tree tops, she gripped her duel canes tight enough for her knuckles to turn a bright white. She let her hands slip down, going across the silver part and down to the bottom of them both. Reaching both arms up, she caught hold of a branch, swinging around it before flying to the next one, doing the same.
Kris did this until she was close enough to the ground and not going to fast that she could drop down without harming herself. She launched herself from a branch, putting her weapons on her back before she tucked and rolled onto the floor. As she stood, she dusted herself off before she felt someone run straight into her.
As she opened her eyes to glance up, she blinked once at the sight of a camouflage jacket and dark green eyes looking into hers. "Oh for the love of..." She trailed off, her eyes narrowing.
In another part of the Emerald Forest, Cheyenne was calmly walking around with her hands cupped around her mouth. "Hello!? Is anyone out there!?" She finally sighed, letting her arms drop as she walked along. She had been walking for what felt like forever and didn't see a single sign of anyone else or anything else. She wasn't launched that far away, was she?
"Way to go Cheyenne, you're already failing." She gave yet another sigh, kicking her brown boots across the floor as she crossed her arms, her Grimm armor gauntlets clinking together as she did so. This was going so well. Not only did she not have a partner yet, but when she fell in the vines that saved her, her white shorts and vest got dirty. Maybe choosing to wear white while attempting to become a Huntress wasn't the best idea. There had to others out there with the same problem though.
"And you can't even find this stupid temple!" She kicked a rock, it flying straight towards a bush. As it went inside it, there was a faint animal like yelp followed by a growl.
Cheyenne blinked once, taking a step back as a large Beoworlf slowly stood up on its back legs. She went to say something but instead took another step back as another creature of darkness stood up behind its brethren.
"Okay so... well then," She reached back, pulling out her modified Atlas riffle as she took several more steps back. "Okay, okay, okay. Just kill them both. Peiece of cake. You've killed plenty of Grimm. You got this. Yep. Totally got this." As one of the Beowolves took a step towards her, Cheyenne was suddenly bolting in the opposite direction. "I don't got this! The headmaster is probably watching me!"
As she ran through the woods, she stumbled to a stop as a Beowolf jumped over her, its claws digging into the ground as it landed in front of her. It growled again, standing up tall as it turned around to face her. With a gulp, she took a step back, turning around to see the other Grimm from before stalking up towards her.
"Well that's just great." She mumbled. "There is one on both sides of me." She gave a faint sigh, gripping her riffle tight. "Alright. I'm fine. I got this."
Cheyenne took a deep breath, bringing the riffle up to aim at one of the creatures of darkness. She fired a single shot, hitting it in the leg before running towards a tree that was long since dead, barely even standing up anymore. As one stumbled back, the other charged at her. It just didn't have time to get close enough before she placed her hand on the tree, it immediately rotting away completely in the lower part before falling over onto the Grimm coming at her.
"Bullseye!" She gave a faint smile, quickly turning around to shoot at the other Grimm. As it stumbled away yet again with a whine, the other roared and stood up. With an inhuman like growl, it pushed its head underneath the fallen tree and lifted it upward, sneding it flying towards Cheyenne.
With a deep breath, Cheyenne jumped up and went over the large tree trunk. Her feet landed on it as it continued to move, her jaw clenching. She crouched down just a bit before launching herself off the trunk, heading straight towards the Beowolf.
As she dod so, the Beowolf lunged right at her, its mouth opening wide enough so it could easily swallow her whole.
Not that Cheyenne was worried about that though.
Flipping a switch on the bottom of the buck, a grin formed just a bit on her face. On her rifle, just below the main barrel, several pieces started to separate and change positions before reconnected back together to form a barrel just a little bit bigger below the main one.
"I'd like to see you devour this!" She shouted, squeezing the trigger and keeping it clenched, a blue glow forming where the new barrel formed. She waited until the tip of the riffle was just an arm stretch away from the Beowolf's mouth before she released the trigger, firing a large white blast right into its mouth.
The creature gave off a crying roar, stumbling back a few steps before falling flat on the ground with a thud, dust rising up all around its body. As Cheyenne landed back on the ground, the Grimm's body was already startong to decay away into a dark mist.
"Well," Cheyenne put a hand on her hip with a smile. "That went off without any backfire." She gave a faint chuckle, rubbing the back of her antlers. "I probably should of tested that upgrade out before coming here, but that went perfectly fine."
It was then she heard the growl of the second Beowolf from behind her. She blinked a few times, looking back at it as she held up her arms with narrowed eyes and a gulp.
Before she or the Grimm could attack one another, the sound of a sword being unsheathed was heard. In an instant, the Beowolf howled out, its head tossing back before it fell limp onto the ground.
Standing on its back was Kagami, pulling her sword from its back. She flung the blade to the side, letting anything left on it fly off. She then twirled it around in her hand, tilting her her head slightly before sheathing it on her back.
As much as she didn't want to, she looked up. Immediately, she shouted at herself internally for making eye contact with the deer Faunus in front of her. She was really hoping she could make it without being spotted by anyone, or spotting anyone.
Cheyenne blinked a few times, slowly lowering her weapon as the second barrel folded back up. "You know," She put her weapon on her back. "That thing would of probably had my head if you didn't show up."
"Uh, yea, no problem." Kagami mumbled back, rubbing the back of her head as she jumped off the decaying Grimm.
"Hey," Cheyenne took a step towards her, an arm outstretched. "Aren't you the-" She was cut off as Kagami finished for her.
"Yes, I'm the one who ran into you last night." She sighed, sticking her hands in her hoodie pocket as she walked closer. Inside her pocket, her fingernails were picking at the skin on her fingers. It was a force of habit when she felt nervous. She wasn't good with people. She was far better off on her own. "And... I guess this means we're... partners."
"Guess so..." She looked back at her, rising up onto her tip toes as her hands moved behind her back.
Silence fell over the two of them as awkwardness filled the air. Even a tumble weed slowly rolled between the two of them. This was definitely an awkward pairing, but at least they were better off than two others.
"Phycotic murderer!"
"Skinny stick!"
"Barbaque slob!"
"Lettuce head!"
"Diabetes central!"
"Malnutrition HQ!"
Kris and Elise shot back at each other, thinking of the worst names the could call each other as they walked through the forest. Little did the two of them come to realize was how much the Grimm were being drawn to their negative emotions.
"You're such an inconsiderate piece of garbage!" Kris snapped, stomping a foot down. "Do you even think of the animals that you kill and how they might have families!?"
Elise stopped, turning around to glare ba k at the red head. "When I am hunting I am thinking about MY family and how they need something to eat! Do you ever consider maybe your precious plants might have feelings and feel pain and are extremely scared when you pull them from the ground!?"
The young girl blinked a few times before facepalming extremely hard. "Do you even hear yourself speaking!?"
"No!" She shot back. "I'm too busy listening to you yap on and on!"
With a deep growl, Kris shot her head up and glared. "I'm going to-!" She stopped herself, her head snapping back behind her. She blinked a few times, a feeling raging in her gut as she heard a twig snap. "Oh crap..." She mumbled, shoving Elise out of the way as she jumped back. Between the two of them landed an incredibly large Alpha Ursa with spikes crawling across its back.
"Holy..." Elise trailed off, slowly looking up at the giant creature with wide eyes. This is a wonderful first meeting between her and Grimm. It couldn't of gone any worse.
"Damn, damn, damn." Kris mumbled, taking a few steps back as she pulled out her weapons. "Alright meat eater, time to show off those hunting skills of yours!"
"U-Um... y-yea..." She gulped, taking another step back. "Would... would this be a bad time to say I've never... really seen... a Grimm... before this moment..."
"WHAT!?" Her voice shot higher than ever before. She quickly pressed a dark green button on her canes as blades shot out of the ends. "I can't believe you!" She charged forward, gritting her teeth extremely tight. She could feel her heart pounding in her head. A single Grimm was one thing, but an Alpha was another story.
"Remind me, if we get out of this alive..." She shot a glare towards Elise. "I'm killing you!" She looked back at the Alpha, jumping up into the air. "I'll kill you like how you kill!"
"I don't kill!" Elise took a step forward. "I hunt!"
"Same damn thing!" She snapped back, flashing her teeth as the Ursa opened its mouth. At the moemmt, she needed dumb luck on her side. Hopefully she would get that. With a faint scream, she lodged both her bladed weapons inside its mouth and quickly jumped back, releasing her weapons.
The Grimm cried out in pain, trying to shut its mouth but unable to do so from the weapons. It thrashed its head around, howling up at the sky as his claws went to push out the blades from its mouth. Even as it tried, it failed.
Kris gave a faint smile, unzipping her hoodie all the way as she grabbed one side of it, pulling it outward. Lined on the inside of the fabric was a huge collection of toys in pockets. "Hmmm... which one do I need..." She tapped her chin, poking at individual toys.
"You... brought..." Elise blinked several times, slowly raising her hand. "You brought toys to a Grimm infested place...?" She shook her head, her hands going to grab her air-compressed rifle. "You're completely and utterly insane!" She shouted, holding up her weapon and aiming it at the rampaging beast. "If you won't attack it, I will!" She reached into on of her pouches, pulling out a red cartridge and loading it in. She immediately started to fire shot after shot, sending dart that exploded on contact.
The attack didn't do much more than agitate the Alpha with its armor covering its body. Only a few actually pierced its black skin and caused a slight wound. When darts stopped hitting it, its head shot up to glare at Elise who took a step back. Even with his mouth still held open by Kris' weapons, it charged at her like it was about to eat her.
"Oh shut it Miss I have never seen a Grimm before!" Kris snapped back, pulling out a small blue propeller airplane. Her jaw clenched again as she held it out in her palm. She took a deep breath, shutting her eyes. The blue toy soon started to gain a green glow to it, the propeller turning on its own as it started to float. A moment later, it was heading straight towards the Ursa.
The monster turned its head, tilting it slightly at the object flying towards it. With its mouth forced opened, the tiny airplane easily flew straight inside it and caused it to give off a yelp as it jerked around.
"What the..." Elise trailed off, slowly standing up straight as she stared at the sight. She blinked once before rubbing her eyes and looking back up. "What?"
"I said shut up!" Kris snapped, her outstretched hand clenching shut as her eyes shot open. "Just shut up!"
As she did so, the Alpha gave off a burp and let out a green mist of air. A moment later, his abdomen puffed out as if something exploded inside of it before it fell limp onto the ground with a thud.
Kris walked over to it, jerking her weapons from its mouth. She retracted the blades, putting them back on her back. Her head then snapped towards Elise, glaring incredibly harshly.
Elise kept on blinking before shaking her head as she put her rifle back on her back. "I... have no idea what just..." She trailed off, not even finishing her sentences.
"Just shut up you fat ingesting slum." She looked away, zipping up her hoodie as she walked forward.
"Hold on!" Elise held up a finger, walking after her. "If you think I am going to let a skinny green bean like you call me names like that, you are dead wrong!"
"I think I have discovered that by now, Miss heart attack!" She shot back, gritting her teeth tightly.
"Shut your mouth! I'm tired of hearing your voice and smelling your leaf breath! This blasted temple won't find itself!" She snapped, her hands balling up in tight fist.
The two of them went at it again, going back and forth at the top of their lungs. Both of them unaware of a pack of Grimm slowly stalking up behind them.
"So..." Kagami rubbed the back of her head as she stared at the broken down temple with chess pieces placed at special stands put up, some already missing. "You think these are the relics?" She glanced back at Cheyenne.
Said Faunus was staring at a beautiful carved black knight piece. "Huh?" She quickly looked back at Kagami, blinking several times.
She just smiled a bit at her, trying not to let it show as she looked away. "Go ahead. We can choose that one."
"Are you sure?" She asked back. "I mean... wouldn't you like to choose or... or..." She trailed off, stumbling on her words.
Kagami just shook her head a bit, slowly walking over towards her with her hands in her pockets. "I already said go ahead. You were looking at it like you were drawn to it by magic or something."
"By magic?" She raised an eyebrow, looking back at her.
She just rolled her eyes a bit, reaching out and grabbing the black piece. "We're taking it, so just relax."
Cheyenne went to respond only to be cut off by incredibly loud screaming mixed with a very loud yelling argument.
"Huh?" Kagami glanced back at the forest, raising an eyebrow as she saw a girl in camouflage run out followed by a girl in red, black and green.
"This is all your fault!" Elise shouted as she bolted straight for the temple that was falling down.
"My fault?!" Kris snapped, just a few steps behind her with soft panting. "You're the idiot who came to a school designed to train people to kill Grimm yet you never even seen one before! How did you even get in!?"
"I just applied and got it!" She shot back as she ran past Cheyenne and Kagami. She then quickly grabbed a chess piece, not even bothering to look at it before skidding to a stop and changing the direction of her run.
"I can't even believe you!" Kris called out, stumbling a bit as she turned to follow.
"What do you think has them runnig so fast?" Cheyenne asked, looking over at Kagami.
"Well..." The jade haired girl paused for a moment before pointing over at where the two girls came running from. "I think that."
Cheyenne raised an eyebrow, looking over before her eyes went incredibly wide. Coming out of the forest was Alpha Ursa after Alpha Ursa. "Oh dear Oum." She mumbled to herself before bolting after the other two who were still arguing with each other.
With a very long sigh, Kagami's shoulders dropped down. "Well there went taking it easy." She muttered before running off after them.
"So where are we running to!?" Cheyenne shouted in a somewhat panic to the red head.
"Anywhere but here!" Kris answered, glancing back at the pack of Ursa following.
"What if we climb a tree-!" Elise started and then was cut off by Kris.
"No! You are not allowed to have anymore ideas!" Her panting only grew worse and worse. She was definitely not the running type.
"So the plan!?" The deer Faunus asked, fear now overcoming the panic.
"Just stay alive!" The brunet answered.
"Um... guys!" Kagami shouted, skidding to a stop as she looked ahead. All three girls looked back at her with a glare, looking forward and doing the same.
In front of them were several Grimm, not to mention the ones behind her. Each of them had a a lust for blood hidden behind their crimson eyes. Slowly, they began to circle the four girls. They walked closer only a few times before planting their feet down on the ground and waiting. They were waiting for the first move of their prey.
With their backs turned to each other and weapons out, each of the four girls took one step forward. As the creatures of darkness growled out, the each took two steps backwards so that their backs were touching.
"Okay..." Cheyenne gulped, trying not to tremble. "Someone needs to come up with a plan..."
"No kidding..." Elise spoke quietly, quickly glancing at Kris before looking back at the Grimm. "Have anymore of those airplanes..."
"Not enough..." She answered. "And I would need their mouths open for a clear shot..."
After several long moments of silence, Kagami finally spoke up with a gulp. "Okay, if you guys want to live, I need you all to tell me exactly what your semblances are right now so I can come up with a plan..." She glanced back at the three. "Because I really don't feel like dying."